I’m completely new to the Zelda franchise, but I’ve been meaning to play one of the games for a long time. I had always wanted to play Breath of the Wild after watching many of my friends and family enjoy it, but unfortunately, I never managed to get around to it, and that game became one of many on a much too large ‘must play’ list, buried under the rubble of my favorite franchises.
And then Tears of the Kingdom was announced, and I decided it was finally time. I was going to jump into my first Zelda game and enjoy all the franchise had to offer. As far as I knew, it would be Breath of the Wild but with improvements, right? I’d have absolutely nothing to lose.
I dived right in the moment I got my hands on the game. I lost my phone in the process, too, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t need to know what time it was anymore — Tears of the Kingdom was my only objective, and nothing would get in my way. Not this time.
I booted up the game and was thrown into the intro sequence. I had always enjoyed Breath of the Wild’s art style from what I had seen online, but playing it yourself is an entirely different experience, so the moment I took control of Link in Tears of the Kingdom, the graphics immediately caught my attention and got a big checkmark of approval.
The story was intriguing and engaging too. It was clear that there were some ties to Breath of the Wild that I may not have understood as a complete newcomer, but it was also easy enough to follow along and understand without that background knowledge. Suddenly the plot also had a huge checkmark right next to it in my brain, and I was hooked. I finished playing through the intro as quickly as possible and was itching to get into the actual gameplay and start exploring the world around me.
Finally, the intro was complete, all tied up with a dramatic freefall into the world below. I sailed through the sky for a short blink and then crash-landed straight into a pond of deep water, probably scarring any poor critters who lived there for life. But hey, I didn’t mind if I traumatized a few fish; it was finally time to start exploring my surroundings!
I messed around for a few seconds getting the hang of all the basic controls, such as dashing, climbing, and jumping. I then decided it was time to start running around and messing about instead of heading to the location marked on my map, naturally. This turned out to be both the best and the worst idea I could have possibly had at the time. But I don’t regret a single thing. In fact, I’d do it all over again.
As I’m beginning to run around the patch of land, I notice these little robot guys called Soldier Constructs. As a newbie, I had no idea what they were doing, just chilling out in the lands, but I shrugged it off. They were minding their own business, and I was minding mine. It’s not like they were hurting anyone, right?
Wrong. I was incredibly wrong in this assumption. I had left the little guys to do their thing, running past them to start heading up a hill, really getting excited at how beautiful I was finding the landscapes. However, as I do so, a small rock comes flying out of nowhere and hits me, causing me to take damage. What the hell?!
I turned around, and the rock had been thrown by none other than one of these Soldier Construct bots. I was having none of it. Frantically moving my camera around, I settled on the first object I could find — a giant rock. I picked this rock up and turned around to find the rock-throwing menace and give it a taste of its own medicine. I doubt he’ll ever throw things at me again if he gets knocked about by this.
And then there’s just one small problem. During the time it took me to turn away and look for an object to pick up, the bot had moved away, and I couldn’t quite see it anymore. But I was determined; this thing was going to pay. I would get my revenge and make things even. As if I was going to let some little thing pick on me less than ten minutes into the game!
After a few seconds of furious hunting, I finally found the culprit and stomped towards him, still holding this monster-sized rock above my head. I walk right up to this thing and hurl the rock at him, expecting it to turn the Soldier Construct into nothing more than spare parts. However, when this rock only hurts him for a portion of his damage and lands behind him, I know I’m in trouble.
This little thing is suddenly (and rightfully) pissed, immediately pulling out some sort of weapon that the rock-throwing culprit definitely did not have. It’s about now that I realize I’ve got the wrong guy, and now I’m in a very awkward fight to the death. I dash to the side and scramble to pick up the rock again, hurling it in a random direction in a desperate attempt to win this bizarre fight. I miss, of course, the rock landing just in front of the bot.
Well, I’m here now and determined to win, even if it’s against the wrong opponent. I’ve gone too far and thrown too many rocks to back down and run at this point. The bot charges towards me, and I head for the rock again, managing to scoop it up. Unfortunately, before I can throw it, the bot finishes me off with a final attack, and I die.
What a way to welcome myself to the world of Zelda. In less than ten minutes, I managed to get Link killed in a petty rock fight against the wrong person. This is how I learned that almost anything and everything can kill you in this game. I thought I would be quick to learn and adapt, moving on from my mistakes, but more deaths soon followed. Falling, drowning, burning, freezing; I’m pretty sure I’ve almost done them all by now.
This was a hurdle to overcome as I got myself used to the game, but once you pick things up, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a brilliant experience I’ve thoroughly enjoyed thus far. It can be an eye-rolling moment when you find yourself in a predicament or mess something up and get yourself killed again, but that’s part of what keeps the game so interesting and exciting.
I hope all of you other newbies can learn from my mistakes and practice your aim before getting into any rock fights. It’s probably safe to double-check you have the right target, too. After all, nobody likes to have rocks thrown at them, apparently even Soldier Constructs.
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